1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assembly for fixing an elongated object such as a wire harness to a support.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In FIG. 1, there is shown, in an exploded manner, a prior art fixing assembly for a wire harness.
Referring to FIG. 1, a wire harness clamp 10 is a one-piece molded object of plastic material and in the form of having a base 12, a pair of gripping arms 14 and 16, a pin 18 and a lug 20. The arm 14 has at the free end thereof a hook 22 and an opening 24, and the other arm 16 has a series of teeth formed on the outer surface thereof. The pin 18 has at the free end thereof a ridge 26. A tubular clip 28 is made of metal and its tubular wall is axially cut at 30 throughout the length thereof so that the clip 28 is resiliently expansible in diameter upon attachment to the pin 18. The tubular clip 28 is provided with a plurality of locking tonques 32 struck out from the tubular wall thereof. A support 34, which is a constituent part of a device or a structure and formed of plastic material, is provided with a boss 36 protruding therefrom. The boss 36 has an inner bore 38 and a flat side face 40.
In use, the tubular clip 28 is attached to the pin 18. This is attained by passing the ridge 26 through the clip 28. The pin 18 and the clip 28 brought together are then inserted into the inner bore 38 of the boss 36, and at the same time the lug 20 is brought into engagement with the side face 40 of the boss 36. The clamp 10 is thus prevented from rotational movement about the pin 18 relative to the support 34 by the interengagement of the lug 20 and the side face 40 of the boss 40, while the pin 18 and the clip 28 are retained in position within the bore 38 by the locking engagement of the tongues 32 with the wall of the bore. A wire harness 42 is placed on the base 12, and the gripping arms 14 and 16 are placed around the harness. By passing the end portion of the arm 16 through the opening 24 of the arm 14 and engaging the hook 22 with a suitable one of the teeth on the arm 16, the harness 42 is tightly gripped or embraced by the clamp 10 and fixed to the support 34. The harness 42 may be detached, if necessary, by pulling the distal end of the arm 14 in a certain direction to disengage the hook 22 from the working tooth of the arm 16 and allow the free ends of the arms 14 and 16 to part from each other.
The prior art wire harness fixing assembly of the above described type is disadvantageous in that it requires a relatively large space above the support. More specifically, the assembly requires a relatively large extent of space in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the support in facing relationship to the harness, since the assembly is constructed and arranged so as to support the harness at a certain distance from the surface of the support. When supported at a certain distance from the support, the wire harness has an increased possibility to interfere with the adjacent objects. Still furthermore, the assembly is expensive in manufacturing cost due to the complicated shape of the wire harness clamp. Yet furthermore, the efficiency in the wire harness attachment and detachment jobs by the assembly is limited since, for example, it is difficult to do the attachment job by one hand.